Manatees at Apollo Beach

The Tampa Electric Power Plant has provided a Manatee viewing area. This area is the city of Apollo Beach, on the main land south of Tampa. The Manatees gather in the winter around the water discharge pipes where it creates warm water. The viewing area is very nice and includes a large nature area with walking paths. We did not see much of the Manatees as they stay around the pipes rather than the large desks over the water. There was a large crowd and parking was full all day. We left there and took a drive south to get photos of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge then turned east toward our motor home at Avon Park.

We parked in over flow area so the walk in was about 3/4 mile.

The Manatees are a few hundred feet from the viewing deck.
You can see them when they come up for air, otherwise they lay on the bottom.

This boat had photographers on board so they did see the Manatees up close.

Another walkway parallel to the water.

This walkway was about 1/4 mile out into the water way.

We walked the nature trails back toward the Jeep.

About 1 1/4 miles to the Jeep. All flat paths for old folks.

Driving south over the Sunshine Skyway Bridg from the St. Petersburg side.
This interstate starts on the north side of Tampa and crosses the bay two times. 

Here is the bridge from a rest area along I-275. The roadway curves to the right to approach the bridge. The south end is on the left side of the photo. Yes, this is another I-275 so they must reuse the interstate numbers. It connects St. Petersburg to the main land. Construction of the current bridge began in 1982 and was dedicated on February 7, 1987. The new bridge cost $244 million to build and was opened to traffic on April 20, 1987. It replaced an older bridge constructed in 1954, which was partly destroyed in a collision in 1980.